NEWS

Middle school students visit UI for career program

~ IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - More than 100 middle school students from eastern Iowa are visiting the University of Iowa as part of a career education program.

Participants of the Project HOPE program are scheduled to visit Friday. The students from West Liberty will have multiple sessions available in a variety of locations on campus.

Project HOPE, organized through UI's College of Education, promotes health science professions to eighth-grade students from rural middle schools. The schools have a large immigrant population of Mexican descent.

The sessions will focus on a range of careers, including nursing, pharmacy and physics. Organizers say early exposure can help minority and rural students plan their academics toward health science professions.